The laptop contained the names and addresses of 500 employees, along with bank details, NI numbers and salary/wage rates.

Last month, Marks & Spencer announced that a laptop containing the personal details of 26,000 employees had been stolen, while in November 2006, a laptop containing payroll details of Metorpolitan Police staff was stolen, and Nationwide Building Society said that a laptop containing customer data had been stolen.

Geoff Sweeney, CTO of IT security company Tier-3, said companies needed to guard against risks by deploying appropriate security processes and systems.

“This incident highlights the need for all companies handling important data to have effective IT security policies and rigorous compliance procedures in place. The aggregation and storage of information assets is increasingly making them targets for criminals seeking to profit from the theft of identity details intellectual property or other sensitive information,” he said.